


96 Hours Awake

by aucatgirl



Series: Descending Upward [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Cultural Differences, Canon Compliant, Even More Socially Awkward Acxa (Voltron), Galran Culture (Voltron), Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Missing Scene, Mystery, POV Acxa, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:41:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28134105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aucatgirl/pseuds/aucatgirl
Summary: Adjusting to life on Earth was difficult for someone as battle-ready as Acxa.
Relationships: Acxa & Keith (Voltron), Acxa & Pidge | Katie Holt, Acxa & Veronica (Voltron)
Series: Descending Upward [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1368433
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	96 Hours Awake

Acxa stared at the ceiling. Footsteps echoed in a distant hallway and the murmuring of voices never quite stopped, even in the dead of night. 

One of the first things Acxa noticed about the planet Earth is how noisy it is. In the vacuum of space and soundproofing of the walls, most of Acxa’s life has been surrounded by quiet, only broken by the shouts of galran commanders, Lotor’s smoothly given orders, the sound of a ship being hit by blasts and explosions and tumbling down into a weblum, Zethrid and Ezor’s need to voice any and every thought that flits through their mind. The quiet was usually accompanied by the faint sound of an engine only picked up by a trained ear. 

Earth was the opposite. The sound of an engine was replaced by a constant wind from the planet’s movement. The shouts of commanders were replaced by the loud and somewhat musical voices of humans, their emotions flowing into their tone and pitch in a wordless language, completely foreign and so unlike the monotonous, growling voices of galrans. 

(Acxa had great difficulty understanding these untranslatable nuances, briefly wondering if Krolia struggled with this as well, or if the Blade’s care for other planets’ cultures allowed her to pick on on these things easier.) 

The only thing that’s the same, now, is the sound of blasts and explosions from galran ships. Normally, she would consider the conquering of a planet an inevitability, perhaps it would even be good for a planet with less resources and primitive technology. Now, on a planet with less resources and primitive technology, she knows that’s far from the truth- humans were perfectly fine in their planetary isolation. The only thing the Empire has brought is death and suffering and loss of any freedom. 

Perhaps it’s knowing some humans that made her realize this- when her mother’s planet was conquered, Acxa felt nothing but vindicated, ignoring the pain of her own species in favor of alleviating her own. _I really am a galra._

Acxa’s first impression of humans was both good overall, and bad for petty reasons. The first human she met was Keith- and _quiznak he did not know when to shut up_. For some unknown reason floating in his half-human head, Keith felt the need to comment on everything and anything that happened around them, as if he were narrating a story. But, he saved her life, and looked past her galran upbringing even for a moment. 

Her second impression was Hunk, who was somehow even chattier, spewing nonsensical words that somehow flowed neatly in a full sentence. But he understood the mechanics of a weblum with barely any information on what to do- he escaped unscathed, something Acxa certainly couldn’t brag, even with the very thorough guide Lotor had dug up. 

These two humans bickered and bounced around, naive and childish, but she certainly can’t judge two members of a species- that she now knows is primitive- who escaped a weblum _purely on a whim_. 

_Ezor would like whatever species this is_ , she’d thought at the time. Similar to humans, Ezor’s species is more social, and half galra like her were rather common with their stronghold in galran piracy rings. 

Thinking of Ezor made her somewhat sad, then, not knowing whether she’d see her again. Recollecting the thought makes her sad now- she wonders if Ezor survived the explosion. Zethrid, as well, but she never clicked with Zethrid like she did with Ezor, especially near the end. They were never the closest of friends, but Acxa can’t exactly place a time she had friends in the first place- maybe Ezor thought they were closer friends than Acxa did. 

Maybe if she was a better friend, she could’ve better shown Ezor the path Acxa had found.

Maybe. 

Probably not. 

Acxa shook her head at her own thoughts. Acxa’s path was with Voltron. Ezor’s was with Zethrid. They made their choices on that fateful day in the base. 

Acxa’s ear twitched at sound of footsteps growing near in the hallway. She darted up from the floor and slunk to the door to listen more carefully. The footsteps were heavy and distinctly human, not caring whether they alerted anyone- likely a Garrison official. It was easy to tell which humans had been in labor camps and which had found tentative safety, just by the way they walked. You learn not to be noisy around the soldiers. 

Acxa waited until the footsteps had faded, hearing the distant sound of a door opening. A part inside her relaxed slightly- definitely a Garrison official, probably returning early from a late night meeting. A very, very late night meeting. 

She slowly slunk back to her blankets strewn about the ground and laid down stiffly on her back. The distant footsteps and murmuring never faded. 

______ 

“Hey, Acxa! Good morning!” Veronica greeted her, an oddity Acxa was still adjusting to. “How’d you sleep?” 

_What kind of question is that?_ “How I sleep is my own business. I’m always alert, so don’t try anything.” 

Veronica smiled, though it looked strained. “I wasn’t planning on it. Nobody here is! It’s just...” Veronica waved a hand around, “...a question human friends ask each other. Out of concern.” 

“Hm. Well, in that case, you have nothing to be concerned about.” _I didn’t sleep at all._ Acxa nodded tersely before continuing. “How... did you sleep?” 

“It was okay! I slept in my room on the Atlas, I’m trying to get used to the noise. I’ve never slept on such a giant spacecraft before. It’s so much louder when your head’s against a pillow!” Veronica chuckled. 

“You’ll got used to it. I’ve spent my entire life in space, in fact, most Galra rarely live on a planet if they’re not stationed on a colonial outpost.” _Is it appropriate to talk so casually about Galra colonization in front of a colonized species...?_ She paused for a moment and tried to decipher Veronica’s expression. She didn’t look uncomfortable, at least, so Acxa continued. “It’s odd sleeping on Earth due to the lack of engine noise.” 

“I can imagine! If you’re used to that kind of white noise your whole life, it’s probably super weird for it to not be there.” 

Acxa nodded again. “It is.” 

The pair descended into a silence awkward enough that even Acxa picked up on it. She clamored for a way to pick up the conversation again, something she hadn’t started doing until she started befriending humans. 

“I have some suggestions for the noise. Firstly, it’s better to sleep either on the ground or in the air vents, and sleep on your arms rather than a pillow. The noise of the air vents is more bearable than that of the engine, while sleeping on the ground will prevent the added echo from the mattress. And make sure you’re in a position that your arms don’t fall asleep from the weight of your head, in case you need to grab your weaponry.” 

“Huh...” Veronica looked to the side, pondering. “Thanks! I’ll... be sure to try those out sometime, haha. Do you... do you sleep like that?” 

“Yes. I sleep on the ground.” 

“Huh.”


End file.
